Now the Queen steps in to bail out 'bankrupt' Fergie

'Bankrupt': Sarah Ferguson is almost £2million in debt after a series of disastrous business deals

The Queen is being forced to pay to turn the Duchess of York’s life around, saving her from bankruptcy.

Sarah is almost £2million in debt after a series of disastrous business deals and is being sued by a firm of solicitors for more than £200,000.

Now her former husband Prince Andrew has ordered his private office at Buckingham Palace - which is financed by £249,000 a year from the Queen’s own pocket - to sort out her financial difficulties and cut her spending.

He told her: ‘From now on, I am going to take control of your life.’

The first move was to sack Sarah’s seven full-time staff plus three part-timers.

The
distraught team, some of whom have worked for the Duchess for 15 years,
were called to Andrew’s mansion, Royal Lodge, at Windsor on Wednesday
night and given their marching orders by Amanda Thirsk, his deputy
private secretary.

Sources say a number have been working for
nothing because the Duchess couldn’t pay their salaries but will get
only the statutory minimum redundancy pay and were even asked to work
out their notice for free.

Although the prince’s office is
funded by the Queen and not taxpayers, questions are bound to be raised
as to whether sorting out his ex-wife’s financial mess is an
appropriate use of the time and expertise of its staff.

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Buckingham
Palace declined to comment last night but sources close to Andrew said
he was immensely sympathetic to his former wife’s plight’.

One said: ‘The Duke feels very strongly that he has a duty to help and, as there is no public money involved, it is entirely up to him whether he does so.’

The couple divorced 14 years ago but the Queen’s former daughter-in-law still lives with Andrew and their two children at Windsor.

In May she was caught by a tabloid newspaper demanding £500,000 from a bogus businessman to provide access to her ex-husband, who works as a UK trade ambassador.

During the sting she admitted that she hadn’t ‘a pot to **** in’.

The Duchess said she had taken the decision to let her staff go ‘with enormous reluctance’ but insisted that ‘it was the right thing to do in the circumstances’.

She is reported to be flying to Necker Island owned by Sir Richard Branson in the Caribbean for an all-expenses paid freebie this week, which has apparently caused intense irritation among those given their notice.